Monday, April 23, 2007

Returning South

Under the Volcano: At the foot of Mt. Hood, the most striking of Cascade’s soaring fire mountains, rests a winding valley filled with world-famous pear orchards.

The mountain continues with her coyness. Veiled in clouds, she offered only glimpses of her pale flanks and stunning north face.

Racing through the mountain canyons of the Cascades...

...and descending into the steep ravines of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, on the dry, desert leeward side of the Cascades.

Sadly, because of the gray skies and snow, the stratovolcanoes of the Eastern Cascades were hidden from sight. The magnificent Three Sisters, Mt. Jefferson, and Mt. Bachelor were all shrouded.

However…

The mountain range in the photo below, stretching all the way from the left to the right of this picture, is avolcano. The Newbury shield volcano is the largest fire mountain of the west, 20 miles (30 km) in diameter with a volume of 80 cubic miles (330 km³). One of its most recent eruptions in AD 400s created a massive obsidian-infused dome within its central caldera, altering the economy of the local Indians by introducing a fresh resource deposit into the Northwest’s already complicated trade network.

Ironically the wettest and grayest part of the trip came in the deserts north of Reno.